Birds in the Shivaliks of Himachal Pradesh

This diwali, I  moved to a guest house (picture on the right) in the lower Shivaliks to escape the noise and pollution of the metro and to spare our 10 year old lab a traumatic week. The guest house is located in the settlement of Nehli Dheeda which as far as we can see has only a couple of houses and a general store. Nehli Dheeda is on the Nahan - Jamta - Dadahu -Renuka road and is a little over 1000m height as deduced from Google terrain maps.

This Jamta - Dadahu stretch of the road has thick forest on either side with isolated farms and houses. The area is rich in birds. Here are some of the birds I managed to capture on camera.

Great Tit.

Along with the Himalayan Bulbul, this seems to be the most common species here.

Scaly-Brested Munia (right) and Juveniles (below)

Chestnut-Bellied Rock Thrush pair (male - left and female - below). The identification was made easy by the fact that I spotted the male and the female in the same area.

Fulvous-Breasted Woodpecker

Chestnut-Bellied Nuthatch

White Eye - this bird is also seen often

My third morning of bird watching also yielded good results. I spent almost the entire morning 7-9 am at one spot - roughly half way down to the river on the jeep track going down from Nehle Dheeda.

Bush Warbler (?)

Himalayan Bulbul

Long Tailed Minivet - female (right) and males (below)

Ashy Drongo

Minivet (female) ??

Grey Bushchat - male (right) and female (below)

White-Crested Laughingthrush

These move around in groups of 3 upwards. Forage noisily under the trees and foliage like Bablers. They indeed seem to laugh (shrill mocking sounds joined by all). Very noisy but very shy on becoming aware of humans!

Two members of a flock of Black Bulbuls that alighted on a tree just in front of me

The highlight of my fourth morning of bird watching here is a Scarlet Minivet that reveals itself unmistakably.

Grey Treepie

Grey-Capped Pygmy Woodpecker (male)

Bar Winged Flycatcher Shrike